Article
An In Vitro Adult Mouse Muscle-nerve Preparation for Studying the Firing Properties of Muscle Afferents
Neuroscience
(2014)
Abstract
Muscle sensory neurons innervating muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs encode length and force changes essential to proprioception. Additional afferent fibers monitor other characteristics of the muscle environment, including metabolite buildup, temperature, and nociceptive stimuli. Overall, abnormal activation of sensory neurons can lead to movement disorders or chronic pain syndromes. We describe the isolation of the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle and nerve for in vitro study of stretch-evoked afferent responses in the adult mouse. Sensory activity is recorded from the nerve with a suction electrode and individual afferents can be analyzed using spike sorting software. In vitro preparations allow for well controlled studies on sensory afferents without the potential confounds of anesthesia or altered muscle perfusion. Here we describe a protocol to identify and test the response of muscle spindle afferents to stretch. Importantly, this preparation also supports the study of other subtypes of muscle afferents, response properties following drug application and the incorporation of powerful genetic approaches and disease models in mice.
Disciplines
Publication Date
September 24, 2014
DOI
10.3791/51948
Publisher Statement
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This article was published in Neuroscience, volume 91, 2014, and can also be found online here.
Citation Information
Joy A. Franco, Heidi E. Kloefkorn, Shawn Hochman and Katherine Wilkinson. "An In Vitro Adult Mouse Muscle-nerve Preparation for Studying the Firing Properties of Muscle Afferents" Neuroscience Vol. 91 (2014) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/katherine_wilkinson/27/
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